Saying an ex-cop-turned-drug-felon had wasted his life, a judge yesterday sentenced him to five years to life behind bars for accepting “magic mushrooms” in the mail at his Brooklyn apartment, where cops later found a virtual hothouse of marijuana plants.

After defendant Mark McCurdy, 56, argued eloquently for leniency on his own behalf, Judge L. Priscilla Hall told McCurdy – who also had filed many legal papers by himself – he has many attributes that he’s thrown away. “Here he is, 56 years old, in jail, and facing a life sentence. What a waste.”

McCurdy was busted nearly two years ago after Customs agents X-rayed the packages – which came from The Netherlands and were addressed to the former cop – and found the psychedelic mushrooms. They then arranged for a controlled delivery of the packages.